"Most of the important things in the world have been accomplished by people who have kept on trying when there seemed to be no hope at all."
- Dale Carnegie

Sunday, September 27, 2015

"Dragon Ball Z, Vol. 8: Goku vs. Ginyu" by Akira Toriyama

Rating: ★★★★★

Previously on Dragon Ball Z(I) The Ginyu Force has arrived and they are a force not to be dealt with as they are fighting with Vegeta, Kuririn, and Gohan.

(II) Goku still hasn't arrived on Planet Namek but he is approaching it very soon and he has become a force that has never been seen in the Saiyan race.

(III) Captain Ginyu of the Ginyu force has retrieved the Dragon Balls and now is heading off to give them to Freeza.

That is what you missed on Dragon Ball Z!

In this volume we finally get to see some badass scenes of ass kicking in the series so far. Akira Toriyama has started his creative juices flowing and now we get to enter one of the creative phases in Dragon Ball Z. While the gang is getting beat up by Reacoom, Captain Ginyu has now finally reached Freeza bringing him the dragon balls. Freeza is excited about finally getting his wish come true but quickly realizes that he is unable to get any of his wishes because he needs a special incantation to summon the dragon so now Freeza is heading off to see the Elder of the Namekians.

When evil almost seems to defeat what is good, Goku finally arrives to Namek and immediately comes and save the day. The whole gang tell Goku that these bad guys are too tough for him but what they haven't realize is Goku is not the same warrior that they have seen months ago and are utterly shock when they see how he barely makes an effort to use full force and yet beat the crap out of these bad guys. Vegeta is furious and jealous that Goku has become this epic hero and is prejudice towards Goku because he cannot accept that Goku is a super saiyan especially for someone who doesn't want to kill anyone and is pure.

Freeza arrives to the Elder's home and finds out that if he kills the Elder then the dragon balls will be destroyed and the elder is not going to reveal the secret incantation so his guardian named Nail believes he can defeat Freeza and they head off to battle but he is no match for Freeza. Among these epic battles, Captain Ginyu is in charge of protecting the dragon balls and when one of his fighters, Jheese, shows up to tell him Goku killed everyone in the group, he hides the dragon balls in the ground and heads off to fight Goku.

He realizes that he is no match for Goku but he has a sneaky move up his sleeves so when he realizes that Goku has a powerful body that can be used to his advantage, he does his powerful move which is having the ability to switch bodies. He is successful at achieving this accomplishment and now Goku is in Captain Ginyu injured body since he self-harmed himself before the transformation. Now the evil doers are heading back to the dragon balls not realizing that Kuririn, Vegeta, and Gohan have arrived to Freeza's spaceship to retrieve the dragon balls.

When the bad guys land at their destination, the gang cannot believe that Goku is evil and Gohan is the one of notices that Goku is a different person and not his loving father. On the mission to reach to his friends, Goku makes the connection that he barely has control of Ginyu's body and because of that it means that Ginyu has no control of Goku's body nor his super strength so the good guys have the advantage and now everyone is beating up Goku's body trying to make it possible for Goku to switch back with Ginyu. Will they be successful? Find out until next time on Dragon Ball Z...

I was extremely happy with this volume because it had so much fighting and more Goku action finally! I enjoyed it in the beginning that there were less attention on Goku for several volumes but I realized that Goku is what makes this series special and unique and after repetitive drama over trying to save the day from evil and all these nonsense fighting it became irritating that Goku was missing from the equation.

I realized through this volume is how I discovered Dragon Ball Z as a little kid when I was younger and I had no clue back then what I was watching but I was completely enchanted by the fighting and the super powers. I cannot wait more on this Freeza storyline and for him to become the freak of nature that we all love.